System, method, and computer program product for contact center management

ABSTRACT

A system, method, and computer program product for customer contact management via voice, chat, e-mail and social network contacts includes a balanced service process (BSP) that includes a plurality of cause or response codes for maximizing first contact resolution (FCR) and CSAT. The BSP is incorporated within a contact center (single center, multiple centers and/or work at home), which receives voice calls, SMS messages, email, chat, or social media communications from customers. The BSP in real-time determines dispositions of such contacts, monitors and manages the performance of individual resolvers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/864,415, filed Jan. 8, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,306,064, which is a continuation of and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/487,544, filed Sep. 16, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,866,690, which is a continuation-in-part of and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/409,467, filed on Mar. 1, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,838,788, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, and which also claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Applications No. 61/538,405, filed on Sep. 23, 2011 and No. 61/549,918, filed on Oct. 21, 2011, which are also incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention in its disclosed embodiments is related generally to the customer relationship management (CRM) process, and more particularly to a novel system, method, and computer program product for customer contact management that includes a balanced service process for accurately measuring and maximizing first call or contact resolution (FCR) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) by aligning the company contact point's view or perception of disposition with customer view of disposition.

Statement of the Prior Art

Many market leaders build their brand strategy around customer experience (CX). It has been found that the average large company gains $0.5B in annual revenue by becoming above average in CX relative to its peers. While organizations set strategy around CX, their actions still focus on compliance and “check-the-box” activities. And, according to Ryan Smith and Luke Williams in “The Most Common Reasons Customer Experience Programs Fail,” Harvard Business Review (Dec. 28, 2016): “Due to lack of agent embracement, an alarming 70 percent of all FCR and Customer Experience initiatives fail to result in changes that customers notice.”

It is a fact that customer surveys are the purest measure of customer experience. It is also a fact that customer surveys are the key to coaching agents and aligning contact points to improve CX. However, it is further a fact that on average, 85% of customers don't respond to surveys. Moreover, on average, only 25% of survey respondents are dissatisfied. The resulting problem is that out of 100 survey solicitations, only about three are useful for coaching.

One approach to solving this problem is to provide customer engagement centers (CEC), which are comprehensive systems for multi-channel customer service and support. This type of office and system assists businesses in making sure that customer interactions are consistent and effective. One thing that a CEC might do is to gather information from different portals or channels, including various social media platforms, and provide protocols for dealing with customers on the phone or in digital environments.

IT professionals design sets of business process technologies to figure out how best to interact with customers in any given situation. These systems are often built on top of simple call center operations to help guide each individual worker's interactions with customers. For example, with better current information about the customer, company contacts can say the right things and generally satisfy the customer's needs, while appearing more intelligent about the customer's relationship with the business. Many CECs offer features like: real-time analytics; mobile-enabled platforms; peer-to-peer support; and integration with company telephony.

Because customer service is so critically important to businesses, a CEC can be a good investment in making sure that things are done right every time a company interacts with their customer, no matter how these interactions take place.

As seen in FIG. 1, Gartner's Magic Quadrant® for customer engagement centers is shown as of May 2017. A Magic Quadrant provides a graphical competitive positioning of four types of technology providers, in markets where growth is high and provider differentiation is distinct. Leaders (e.g., Salesforce) execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow. Visionaries understand where the market is going or have a vision for changing market rules, but do not yet execute well. Niche Players focus successfully on a small segment, or are unfocused and do not out-innovate or outperform others. Challengers execute well today or may dominate a large segment, but do not demonstrate an understanding of market direction.

While these approaches can certainly reduce costs, they also can reduce customer satisfaction and loyalty. A better way to approach the issue is to put more focus on taking care of the customer's issue during the first contact. Improving first call or contact resolution (FCR) not only impacts the cost of operations, but also simultaneously affects customer satisfaction and retention. By improving FCR and reducing the total volume of repeat calls, companies can significantly lower service time and the overall cost to serve the customer. From a customer's perspective, improved FCR translates directly to higher satisfaction which further impacts the bottom line by boosting customer loyalty and revenues. As a matter of fact, having the issue resolved on the first contact has been cited in many studies as being the number one driver of customer satisfaction.

The pursuit of increasing FCR rates is the idealistic goal of any organization reliant upon contact center support. However, mountains of data, armies of analysts and management's ever-changing reaction to FCR crises often leave both customer management staff and company leadership apathetic and unable to serve the customer. This leaves customers frustrated and often drives them away. At the core of the problem is an insufficient or nonexistent set of tools to confront the challenge and the lack of a detailed process dedicated to rectifying the situation, as a result: (a) confusing and ever-changing processes are implemented; (b) staff morale is unfavorably impacted, decreasing tenure and increasing attrition; and (c) customers are lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is generally an object of certain embodiments of the present invention to provide a system, method, and computer program product to accurately measure and manage first contact resolution (FCR) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) at an actionable (i.e., from agent to customer) level.

More specifically, it is an object of those and other embodiments of the present invention to generate per-call data in real-time that accurately represents the customer's perception and opinion.

The above and other objects are provided by the balanced service process described herein, which provides (a) accurate real-time, intraday, and historical FCR and CSAT statistics; (b) dynamic reporting of issues driving call volume and customer experience; (c) analysis of contacts that were not resolved; (d) a closed loop channel to define, report and correct trending issues that impede FCR and CSAT; and (e) a customer contact point and customer calibrator which closely aligns an contacts point's perception of disposition with a customer's perception of disposition.

Through the implementation of the balanced service process, the system, method, and computer program product according to embodiments of the present invention will demonstrate, with empirical data, the following benefits: (a) lower operating expense; (b) reduced service related contacts; and (c) improved customer satisfaction.

Further objects, advantages, and novel features of the embodiments of the present invention and the structure and operation thereof, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts the Gartner Magic Quadrant® for customer engagement centers;

FIG. 2 depicts a high-level block diagram of a system for customer relationship management according to embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart for maximizing first contact resolution according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B depict a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for responding to an email contact;

FIG. 6 depicts a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for responding to a phone call;

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for responding to a chat contact;

FIG. 8 depicts a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for use with calibrated agent predictions;

FIG. 9 depicts a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for use with calibrated agent predictions;

FIG. 10 depicts a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention including machine learning;

FIG. 11 depicts a calibration dashboard for use with the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 depicts another calibration dashboard for use with the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 depicts an executive dashboard for use with the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 depicts another executive dashboard for use with the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 15 depicts a Zacoustic Predictive Survey form according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments are discussed in detail below. While specific exemplary embodiments are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. In describing and illustrating the exemplary embodiments, specific terminology and contact types are employed for the sake of clarity. However, the embodiments are not intended to be limited to the specific terminology and contact types so selected. Persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without departing from the true spirit and scope of the embodiments. It is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose. The examples and embodiments described herein are non-limiting examples.

Embodiments of the present invention may include apparatuses and/or contact types for performing the operations disclosed herein. An apparatus may be specially constructed for the desired purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose device selectively activated or reconfigured by a program stored in the device.

Embodiments of the invention may also be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. They may be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed by a computing platform to perform the operations described herein. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; and others.

In the following description and claims, the terms “computer program medium” and “computer readable medium” may be used to generally refer to media such as, but not limited to removable storage drives, a hard disk installed in hard disk drive, and the like, etc. These computer program products may provide software to a computer system. Embodiments of the invention may be directed to such computer program products.

References to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,” “various embodiments,” etc., may indicate that the embodiment(s) of the invention so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrase “in one embodiment,” or “in an exemplary embodiment,” do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although they may.

In the following description and claims, the terms “coupled” and “connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should be understood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other. Rather, in particular embodiments, “connected” may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. “Coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact. However, “coupled” may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still cooperate or interact with each other.

An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistent sequence of acts or operations leading to a desired result. These include physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like. It should be understood, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, and as may be apparent from the following description and claims, it should be appreciated that throughout the specification descriptions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

In a similar manner, the term “processor” may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data from registers and/or memory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data that may be stored in registers and/or memory. A “computing platform” may comprise one or more processors.

Embodiments of the present invention may further include apparatuses and/or manual systems for performing the operations described herein. An apparatus or system may be specially constructed for the desired purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose device selectively activated or reconfigured by a program stored in the device.

FCR as used herein can refer to first call resolution or first contact resolution, because a contact within the embodiments of the present invention may refer to any one or more of the following: face-to-face interactions, voice calls, SMS messages, email, chat, or social media communications from customers.

Systems according to embodiments of the present invention may generate FCR, CSAT and Response Codes—issues that are driving call volume—data, all in actionable or real-time. The data, when analyzed, creates action plans to address process, behavioral, and recurrent training problems and also serves as the basis for an agent's reward and recognition program.

FCR is inarguably the most important metric in the contact center environment, simultaneously driving and addressing customer satisfaction, quality and efficiency. Response Codes allow for tactical intraday, and strategic long-term, management of the top issues driving customer contacts. It should be noted at this juncture that “Response Codes” may also be referred to herein as cause drivers, interaction drivers, or key performance indicators.

Fundamentally, the BSP relies on “customer contact points” (contact center agents, BOTs, etc.) to generate FCR and CSAT data. At the end of every contact the customer contact point must disposition each contact before another is presented: “YES” if the issue was resolved and “NO” if the issue was not resolved. Low “exception rates” (i.e., where there are different Agent and customer dispositions for the same record) and high “resolution rates” (i.e., where the Agent and customer both disposition the record as “YES”) is the goal. Low exception rates and low resolution rates suggest training is required. High exception rates and low resolution rates indicate a process or policy breakdown, and high exception rates with high resolution rates suggest Agent behavior issues.

The accuracy of the BSP can be measured by the level of alignment with the customers' perception of resolution and satisfaction. If the customer and the Agent are in synchronicity with regard to the perception of both, and assuming all policies were adhered to, the contact may be declared resolved and accurately measured with great confidence. Conversely, when there is a divergence in the perception of resolution between the Agent and customer, there are valuable process, training, and Agent behavior management opportunities. When the process is applied, resolution and CSAT barriers quickly emerge and targeted actions can be initiated.

Portions of some processes similar to the BSP may have been deployed in other contact centers. However, without deployment of the processes present in the BSP, the reliability of data and the ability to consistently execute an FCR and CSAT strategy is not possible. Short-term FCR and CSAT “campaigns” often reduce frontline employees to apathy and fear, and create ongoing client stress. Survey results can “indicate” opportunities for improvement, but are of little value over the long run unless they are integrated at the operational level and used for ongoing management of the business. BSP makes FCR and CSAT an intraday-managed metric, analogous to service level or handle time. Moreover, there is human behavior at play. When an Agent knows that he/she must accurately disposition each record before proceeding to the next contact, and will be evaluated primarily on the outcome, a culture of resolution is institutionalized enterprise wide. Without the BSP concerns related to accuracy and a built-in bias at the Agent level are justified; however, the BSP ties each Agent and customer's dispositions together via a simple survey, asking the same two questions: “Was the issue resolved?” “Was the customer satisfied with the service?” This counterbalance allows patterns in synchronicity between the Agent and the customer's perception to emerge, and actions to be created to address the gaps.

Obviously, customers are more concerned with issue resolution than contact resolution. The contact is just the means to the end, in the customer's perception. Recognizing this, the customer IVR survey strategy that the system, method, and computer program product executes is sensitized to the type of issue that was reported. For example, if the contact was a billing concern, the customer may be surveyed after they have received the next bill to determine FCR rather than immediately, post-contact. In this example, the customer may think their issue has been resolved but doesn't really know for sure until the correction is observed on the next bill. In an environment where the Agent has the tools to resolve the issues upon first contact, post-contact surveys are deployed. Either way, milestones must be decided upon and used if necessary as triggers for customer surveys to ensure the accuracy of data.

Analytics may also be used to generate an automated Response Code. Such analytics may comprise voice analytics or video analytics, which produce an automated cause or response code for each contact, and presents them in real-time and historically. These cause or response codes may itemize the combination of agent and customer survey responses, and may culminate in performance management software known as Zacoustic™ (an application monitor and network performance monitoring and management tool), and they are presented in descending order within a real-time dashboard. Material increases in individual cause or response codes generate an alert, informing management that a particular “on-the-rise” issue may be of concern and may require intervention, lest FCR rates are impeded.

Zacoustic may also generate exceptions (which are defined as variances in responses between the Agent and the customer), which are then reviewed by a Quality Assurance (QA) team. With 100% contact recording, the QA analyst/supervisor reviews contacts and makes the determination as to whether exceptions are rooted in process, skill or behavior. As trends develop, targeted action plans are created and executed upon.

As processes are progressively fixed and training and behavior issues are addressed, FCR and satisfaction rates increase. Measures to ensure Agent performance is consistently at or above standard are applied as individual Agents work through learning curves or remediation.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals and characters represent like or corresponding parts and steps throughout each of the many views, there is shown in FIG. 2 a high-level block diagram of a system 200 for customer relationship management according to embodiments of the present invention. System 200 generally comprises a contact center (which may comprise, e.g., single or multiple locations and/or work at home in the form of a call center or a customer engagement center) 202, which may include an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) 204, Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) hardware/software 206, the Balanced Service Processor (Zacoustic) 208, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) hardware/software 212, and a database 216. IVR 212 may further comprise a chat BOT 214, while Zacoustic 208 may be coupled to a BOT (AI) 210 and a database 218.

As is known, ACD 204 may suitably comprise a device or system that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents (i.e., Agents 210, 214, 228 or supervisors/monitors 232) use. It is often part of a CTI system. Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD 204. ACD systems are often found in offices that handle large volumes of incoming phone calls from callers who have no need to talk to a specific person but who require assistance from any of multiple persons (e.g., customer service representatives) at the earliest opportunity. The system consists of hardware for the terminals and switches, phone lines, and software for the routing strategy. The routing strategy is a rule-based set of instructions that tells the ACD 204 how calls are handled inside the system. Typically, this is an algorithm that determines the best available employee or employees to respond to a given incoming call. To help make this match, additional data may be solicited and reviewed to find out why the customer is calling. Sometimes the caller's caller ID or ANI, or the dialed number (DNIS) may be used. More often, a simple interactive voice response such as may be used with IVR 212 is used to ascertain the reason for the call.

Alternatively, ACD 204 may suitably comprise an Internet call management device of the types described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,005,024, entitled “Method For Establishing An IP Video-Conference Using A Telephone Network For Voice Transmission,” U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,667, entitled PSTN-Internet Notification Services,” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,404,860, entitled “System And Method For Internet Call Management With Text-To-Speech Messaging,” each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

CTI 206 may be used for other functions such as screen pops; call information display (ANI/DNIS); dialing (e.g., power dial, preview dial, and predictive dial; phone control in general and more particularly call control and feature control; transfers; advanced call reporting functions, etc.).

System 200 is connected to receive calls from a PSTN 220 and IP network 222. As is known, the PSTN 220 is the network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networks, in much the same way that the Internet is the network of the world's public IP-based packet-switched networks (conceptually shown in FIG. 2 as IP network 222). Originally a network of fixed-line analog telephone systems, the PSTN 220 is now almost entirely digital, and now includes mobile as well as fixed telephones. It is sometimes referred to as the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS).

Phones used to access the system 200 may be conventional wireline phones, wireless phones, IP phones, satellite phones, and the like. As is known, use of the phones by users may provide certain telecommunications features such as Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS). ANI provides the phone call recipient with the caller's phone number. The technology and method used to provide this information is determined by the service provider, and is often provided by sending DTMF (i.e., digital tone multi frequency) tones along with the call.

Also known as Automated Number Identification or Calling Line Identification (CLI), ANI may arrive over the D channel of an ISDN PRI circuit (out-of-band signaling), or before the first ring on a single line (in band signaling). Caller ID is the local phone company version of ANI, and is usually delivered in band.

In contact center applications, ANI displays the number of the caller to the phone representative or Agent in real-time. Among other things, the contact center can use the information to process the call based upon prior history or can forward the call to a different department or organization.

DNIS is a service sold by telecommunications companies to corporate clients that lets them determine which telephone number was dialed by a customer. This is useful in determining how to answer an inbound call. The telecommunications company sends a DNIS number to the client phone system during the call setup. The DNIS number is typically 4 to 10 digits in length.

For example, a company may have a different toll-free number for each product line it sells. If a contact center is handling calls for multiple product lines, the switch that receives the call can examine the DNIS, and then play the appropriate recorded greeting. Another example of multiple toll-free numbers might be used for multi-lingual identification. A dedicated toll-free number might be set up for Spanish speaking customers.

With IVR (i.e., interactive voice response) systems, DNIS may be used as routing information for dispatching purposes, to determine which script or service should be played based on the number that was dialed to reach the IVR platform. For example, 0906 123 4567 and 0906 123 4568 may well both connect to the same IVR system, but one number may be required to provide a competition service and the other might be an information line. The DNIS is what distinguishes these lines from each other and hence the IVR will know which service to provide to the caller.

A phone call, chat, or email may come into the contact center 202 through the PSTN 220 or IP network 222 or other computer connection. It may be processed through a router/gateway 224 and switch 226 to the contact center 202. The contact center 202, in turn, may decide which agent/Agent 228 BOT 210 or Chat BOT 214 gets the contact and performs the Zacoustic process ( ) according to embodiments of the present invention described herein.

Zacoustic 208 may consist of the following successive components. Data Generation is the first step, in which the Agent disposition of contact (RDP), customer disposition of contact (CDP), and FCR calculation are determined. A cause or response code may be manually determined or automatically generated by use of voice or video analytics. Quality Assurance (QA) is then used to determine exceptions, and monitoring/call review. The exceptions may then be analyzed.

As defined above, the steps of Zacoustic 208 may include an “action plan,” which sets forth the actions stemming from trends in exception analysis related to (a) process; (b) training; and (c) behavior. An “application cause” is the primary reason the customer contacted the contact center 202 as displaced in the client's application. “Behavior Reconditioning” may comprise the actions stemming from data that illuminates Agent behavior (e.g., deliberate miscoding of dispositions) that requires some or all of; coaching, counseling, termination, and when completed, increases data accuracy and FCR rates.

Resolved rate or “Billable Resolution Rate” comprises a metric that can be used to account for cost of bill the client for resolved contacts only. It may be calculated as follows: TOTAL “YES” RDP+TOTAL “OUT OF CONTROL” RDPs (as determined by QA).

A “contact” may comprise the act of a customer contacting the contact center 202 (i.e., phone, chat, e-mail). Alternatively, a “contact” may comprise customer queries via social media. The ability to effectively deal with such customer queries requires companies to have in place some form of system to monitor what is being said about the company across various social media channels, including blogs, Twitter and LinkedIn. Dozens of such services exist to help, feeding companies all sorts of information on what is being said about them, based on whatever key words they select.

A growing number of companies are now trying to manage those transactions, so they come in to a contact center queue just like a phone call does. Zacoustic 208 may also queue such interactions, deliver them to appropriately skilled agents/Agents 228, BOT's 210 and Chat BOT's 214 and monitor the response and report on the outcomes. Zacoustic 208 may even keep track of which contact point handles each interaction, in case any follow-up is required.

A “Cause of Contact” may comprise the primary reason for the customer contacting the contact center 202. It may be derived and digitally converted to a cause or response code (collectively referred to as “Response Code”) and sent to Zacoustic (a customer experience management system for contact centers available from BalanceCXI, Inc. of Austin, Tex. USA) via voice or video analytics.

A “Response Code” may comprise the coding that resides in Zacoustic related to the Cause of Contact that may be digitally derived via Voice Analytics.

A “CDP” (or Customer Disposition) may comprise the record of the customer's response to the IVR survey (e.g., “Was the issue resolved?”). The QA (or Quality Assurance) team analyzes exceptions and determines root cause, broken into three major components, (a) process; (b) training; and (c) behavior. Data may comprise the total numbers of “YES” and “NO” dispositions, which are generated by Agents and customers and is used for operations, decision-making and planning.

A “Disposition” may comprise responses to surveys which ask Agents and customers “Was the issue resolved?” It is mandatory that the Agent respond at the end of each contact, via Zacoustic. The customers are given the option of post call—and post any milestones—via IVR survey. Responses are either “YES” (i.e., the issue was resolved/customer was satisfied) or “NO” (i.e., the issue was not resolved/customer was not satisfied). Responses become data. An “Exception” may comprise a different disposition/response for the same record(s) as dispositioned by the Agent and the customer.

An “Exception Analysis” may comprise the determination made by QA regarding the root cause of the Exception. Among such root causes are: (a) client process; (b) CRM process; (c) Agent training; and (d) Agent behavior. The “Exception Rate” may comprise the percentage of variances in responses between the customer and the Agent (calculated as TOTAL EXCEPTIONS/TOTAL CDP's).

“Milestones” may comprise the events that trigger the initiation of customer surveys (e.g., billing dates, return dates, etc.). Surveys must be tied to milestones to ensure that the customer's perception of resolution is accurate.

“Process Reconditioning” may comprise actions stemming from data that illuminates a process, either on behalf of the BPO or client that requires repair and when completed, should increase FCR.

“Recurrent Training” may comprise actions stemming from data that illuminates a need for refresher training for one, some or all Agents who support a certain product, service, or process, when completed, should increase FCR.

“Resolution Rate” may comprise the percentage of contacts that the provider resolves calculated as (RDP “YES”/TOTAL CALLS HANDLED).

Zacoustic (i.e., the performance management software which powers the balanced service process) supports and runs on BSP 208, and displays key performance metrics in real-time, including—and most importantly—FCR statistics and CSAT. Zacoustic resides on every Agent's, supervisor's, and client's desktop 230, 234, providing the necessary feedback required optimizing intraday FCR performance Its primary function is to calculate customer satisfaction and call resolution metrics, with various associations to those metrics, into certain formats and reports.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, such performance management software is a cloud-based program developed in Java, with HTML providing an easily navigable graphical user interface. It was developed to provide open access from any platform running most available browsers, including the following, or newer, browser releases: Google Chrome 24.0.1312.56; Firefox 18.0; Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0; and Safari 6.0. MySQL may be used to power the performance management software in database 230. It may be built on a scalable, load-balance robust platform (e.g., GlassFish 3.0 servers) of the type that is deployable through the cloud worldwide.

At the end of each contact, the Agent is presented with two question(s), 1) “Was this issue resolved?” 2) Was the customer satisfied with the service received? The Agent must then select one of two radio buttons, “YES” or “NO”. The response is sent to Zacoustic database 218 where it will await CDP or QA analysis.

The FCR Rate and CSAT rate are immediately populated in Zacoustic database 218 along with the number of contacts the agent/enterprise has handled within the same time period. Contacts handled data is generated from the ACD 204. The FCR rate for individual Agents, supervisors, operations managers, accounts, clients and enterprise is then generated. The calculation for FCR rate is as follows: TOTAL “YES” RDP/TOTAL CONTACTS HANDLED. The point in time in which a customer commitment has been accomplished, should be inserted into the IVR decision tree and triggered at the appropriate time, if required.

An IVR contact may be generated to the customer, post any milestone requirements, and the customer is asked by the IVR, “You recently contacted [CLIENT] for [RESPONSE CODE], was this issue resolved? Press 1 for “YES” and 2 for “NO” and “Were you satisfied with the service provided by ——————” Press 1 for “YES” and 2 for “NO”. IP network contacts are handled the same and made over the appropriate media.

The Exception Rate may be calculated as the total number of Exceptions divided by the total number of CDP's—the Exception Rate percentage is then multiplied by the Resolution Rate and subtracted from the Resolution Rate to give the billable Resolution Rate.

Voice and/or video analytics may be used to determine whether key words and phrases are identified and used to produce “Response Codes”, the main reason why a customer contacted the BPO/contact center 202. Once generated, Response Codes are sent to Zacoustic where they are stack ranked and presented on the main dashboard in descending order.

Changes in contact patterns can be quickly identified and immediately addressed through the presentation of Response Codes in Zacoustic. If trends change dramatically, an alert is sent to the BPO/contact center 205 and the client's management and the Response Code that is spiking can be examined through live monitoring. Additionally, FCR Rates for the Response Code in question may be produced and if the FCR Rate is low for the Response Code in question

n, a material process or training issue is quickly identified and can be addressed swiftly, thereby preserving FCR Rates.

When the Agent and the customer generate different dispositions for the same contact, it is defined as an Exception. An Exception report, which consists of: (a) the RDP; (b) CDP; and (c) contact recording may be bundled and presented to the QA team. QA analysts review every exception to determine the root cause of the Exception. The three categories of Exception root cause are process, training and behavior. The following are examples for each:

Example 1

Process: Assume that a customer contacted the BPO/contact center 202 to have an erroneous charge removed from their bill. The Agent follows procedure and orders the charge removed, and dispositions the contact as “YES”. Due to an internal process error at the client, the charge is not removed and when the customer is contacted, the CDP returns as “NO”. This creates an Exception and is routed to QA for further review. The QA analyst determines that this is a process error on the client's side and confirms the Agent followed procedure. As trends develop, it is established that 12% of all contacts are related to this same Response Code. This information is relayed back to the client via a “Process Reconditioning Request”. Once the process is reconditioned, the FCR rate is favorably impacted for 12% of all contacts.

Example 2

Training: The client releases a new product and prior to release, training is conducted for all Agents. The training includes instructions on how to install the product and Agents execute to plan. However, a glitch in the system occurs moments after install disabling the product and all that was required was the install of a driver to remedy the issue. Upon completion of the contact the Agent dispositions the record as “YES” and when surveyed the customer disposition is “NO”. This creates an Exception and is routed to QA for further review. The QA analyst coordinates with the client and determines that this is a training error on the client's side and confirms the Agent followed procedure. As trends develop it is established that 15% of all contacts are related to this same Response Code. This information is relayed back to the BPO/contact center 205 training via a “Training Reconditioning Request”. Once the Agents receive recurrent training, the FCR rate is favorably impacted for 15% of all contacts.

Example 3

Behavior: The BPO/contact center 205 may reward Agents with a high resolution rate and an individual Agent is close to being reward. He is near his lunch break and he rushes a call to check out on time. He dispositions the contact as “YES” and when surveyed, the customer dispositions the contact as “NO”. This creates an Exception and is routed to QA for further review. The QA analyst determines that this is a behavior error. This information is relayed back to the Agent's supervisor 232 via a “Behavior Reconditioning Request”. The supervisor 232 has three hours to meet with the Agent 228, review the call and initiate counseling, which is stored progressively in Zacoustic database 218. The Agent is now on notice and any further infractions of policy result in progressive counseling up to and including termination of employment.

Significant sampling of contacts that lack CDP data are randomly reviewed by QA and blindly—meaning the QA analyst cannot view either the RDP or CDP—and the QA analyst produces a disposition upon completion of review. If a (shadow) Exception is generated as a result of this exercise, Exception Analysis as described herein below is conducted.

Significant samples of Exceptions are reviewed and the QA analyst makes a determination as whether the root cause of the Exception was (a) a CRM or client policy/process issue, (b) a training issue, meaning the Agent obviously lacked the tools or training needed to resolve the contact, or (c) a behavior issue, meaning it appears that the Agent deliberately and wrongfully dispositioned the contact.

The following actions stem from the various combinations RDP and CDP as shown in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 Dispositions RDP CDP Likely Implication Action Item Yes Yes Good Performance Reward Yes No Agent Behavior Coach No Yes Process Breakdown Client interface to address process fix No No Training Required Establish trends, develop and execute on training

As Exception analyses are produced, trends are analyzed and stack ranked in descending order. In the event that a CRM process is impeding FCR, and can be adjusted within the realm of fair practice, client approval may be sought, if required, and the process is adjusted. If Agent training is required to effect the process change, it is scheduled and executed upon as quickly as possible.

Both CRM and client process/policy reconditioning action items may be tracked from the time a need was identified to the time the process or policy is fixed. Analysis that illustrates the impact of the broken process can be produced using the following calculation: TOTAL BROKEN PROCESS CONTACTS/TOTAL CONTACTS HANDLED. The percentage of this calculation may be removed from the overall FCR rate to clearly illustrate the impact of the broken process thereby creating a crystal clear, tangible sense of urgency.

Agents who have ongoing high Resolution Rates, coupled with low Exception Rates, may be recognized and rewarded in conjunction with an established program. Given the complexity of various scopes of work, reward and recognition programs may be developed on a program-by-program basis.

Agents who demonstrate chronically low Resolution Rates and high Exception Rates may be placed on probationary counseling. If it is determined that the barrier for improvement is rooted in “will”, rather than “skill”, termination of employment should occur upon a prescribed fair HR practice.

As Exceptions statistics are analyzed using Zacoustic reporting tools, common trends in unresolved Response Codes quickly emerge. This information may be organized by: (a) frequency in Response Code; and (b) Exception Rates in descending order. The most frequent Response Codes coupled with the highest Exception Rates allows for targeted training.

The BPO and client should budget approximately 2 hours per Agent per week for recurrent training. This training might be for an individual Agent or a group of Agents.

As data is collected for the client, the client/BPO may establish a normal learning curve period for the group of Agents assigned to the account. This learning curve will allow the CRM group to identify and correct performance and behavior trends as early as possible, while giving Agents the appropriate amount of time to learn the client's business.

Cause or response codes may be four-letter acronyms that itemize the combination of agent and customer survey responses. Response codes may be used to prioritize records for evaluation and for quick interpretation among users of the balance process and Zacoustic software. In such a manner, they may categorize the combination of agent and customer survey responses while at the same time may be assigned a priority used for evaluation of the Agent Survey.

Such cause or response codes serve as a means to quickly describe agent-customer survey response alignment, the survey question responded to (i.e., either satisfaction or resolution) and whether or not the call-in question was a repeat. Response codes are generated only after the agent has responded to the Agent Survey and the customer has responded to the Customer Survey, or had the opportunity to respond and did not.

Each Response Code may be assigned a level of priority and used within an algorithm to help determine which Agent Surveys are to be evaluated by Quality Assurance. Response Codes may appear in various screens and reports inside the application, allowing users to isolate agent-customer alignment concerns. An exemplary syntax of the Response Codes according to an embodiment of the present invention is described in Tables 2 and 3 below.

TABLE 2 Response Code Letter Categories LETTER 1 2 3 4 CATEGORY Survey Question Survey Agent Survey Repeat (Satisfaction or Alignment Response Status Resolution)

TABLE 3 Response Code Categories LETTER 1 LETTER 2 LETTER 3 LETTER 4 Survey Question Survey Alignment Agent Response Repeat Status S Satisfaction M Matching Y Yes F First R Resolution X Not N No Z Repeat Matching E Satisfaction A Agent-Only w/Milestone O Resolution w/Milestone

In addition to the above Response Code Categories, the system may include Response Codes for instances with no Agent or Customer Survey responses, including Transfers, Dropped Contacts, Escalations, and Flagged Contacts as shown, for example, in Table 4 below. These special Response Codes may also be prioritized for QA review along with the standard codes.

TABLE 4 Flagged, Dropped and Transferred Codes DISPOSITION DESCRIPTION Flag Record Agents check the “Flag Record” box when it would be inappropriate for the customer to receive a survey For example, if the customer threatened legal action When the “Flag Record” box is checked, the rest of the survey questions, except the “Was this a repeat contact?” become unavailable to the agent The “No” box for both, “Will the customer tell us they were satisfied?” and “Will the customer tell us their issue was resolved?” questions are auto-populated 100% of these records are reviewed by the Data Assurance team Call Dropped When through no fault of the agent the call is terminated the call dropped function is utilized (e.g., technical issues or the customer hangs up) The importance of ensuring a one-to-one ratio of customer contacts to Agent Survey is of critical importance to the overall integrity of the Balanced Service Process and the data it produces Once the “Submit” button is pressed, the record becomes coded as a Call Dropped 100% of Call Dropped records are reviewed by the Data Assurance team to ensure that the disconnect was legitimate Call Transferred Calls that are transferred are accounted for when the agent checks the “Call Transferred” box Once checked, all other fields in the Agent Survey are rendered unavailable The customer does not receive a survey when a call is transferred - only when the last agent who touches the customer contact completes the Agent Survey will the customer receive a survey The Data Assurance team reviews 100% of Call Transferred records to validate that the transfer was required

Response code creation may occur when the original agent responses are either matched with a customer response or the window of opportunity for the customer response closes. the window timeframe is set by the system administrator as part of the control panel functions for the software.

Response Codes may be separated into three clusters: (1) negative, (2) neutral, and (3) positive. Such clustering of response codes provides the following benefits: grouping data; identifying trends; and an element of quality assurance evaluation algorithms Exemplary Response Code clusters according to an embodiment of the present invention are described in Table 5 below.

TABLE 5 Response Code Clusters CATEGORY CLUSTERS DESCRIPTION Negative Sat_Neg Groups satisfaction or resolution Response Codes wherein either or both the Res_Neg agent and the customer responded “No” to the respective survey question Neutral Sat_Neu Groups satisfaction or resolution Response Codes that cannot be definitively Res_Neu categorized as either negative or positive Positive Sat_Pos Groups satisfaction or resolution Response Codes wherein both the agent and the Res_Pos customer responded “Yes” to the respective survey question

Response Codes may be defined as follows in Table 6 below.

TABLE 6 Response Codes CODE SURVEY ALIGNMENT AGENT CUST REPEAT CLUSTER EANF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A First Sat_Neg EANZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Sat_Neg EAYF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A First Sat_Neu EAYZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Sat_Neu EMNF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching No No First Sat_Neg EMNZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching No No Repeat Sat_Neg EMYF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes First Sat_Pos EMYZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes Repeat Sat_Pos EXNF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes First Sat_Neg EXNZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes Repeat Sat_Neg EXYF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No First Sat_Neg EXYZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No Repeat Sat_Neg OANF Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A First Res_Neg OANZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Res_Neg OAYF Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A First Res_Neu OAYZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Res_Neu OMNF Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching No No First Res_Neg OMNZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching No No Repeat Res_Neg OMYF Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes First Res_Pos OMYZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes Repeat Res_Pos OXNF Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes First Res_Neg OXNZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes Repeat Res_Neg OXYF Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No First Res_Neg OXYZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No Repeat Res_Neg RANF Resolution Agent-Only No N/A First Res_Neg RANZ Resolution Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Res_Neg RAYF Resolution Agent-Only Yes N/A First Res_Neu RAYZ Resolution Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Res_Neu RMNF Resolution Matching No No First Res_Neg RMNZ Resolution Matching No No Repeat Res_Neg RMYF Resolution Matching Yes Yes First Res_Pos RMYZ Resolution Matching Yes Yes Repeat Res_Pos RXNF Resolution Not Matching No Yes First Res_Neu RXNZ Resolution Not Matching No Yes Repeat Res_Neu RXYF Resolution Not Matching Yes No First Res_Neg RXYZ Resolution Not Matching Yes No Repeat Res_Neg SANF Satisfaction Agent-Only No N/A First Sat_Neg SANZ Satisfaction Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Sat_Neg SAYF Satisfaction Agent-Only Yes N/A First Sat_Neu SAYZ Satisfaction Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Sat_Neu SMNF Satisfaction Matching No No First Sat_Neg SMNZ Satisfaction Matching No No Repeat Sat_Neg SMYF Satisfaction Matching Yes Yes First Sat_Pos SMYZ Satisfaction Matching Yes Yes Repeat Sat_Pos SXNF Satisfaction Not Matching No Yes First Sat_Neu SXNZ Satisfaction Not Matching No Yes Repeat Sat_Neu SXYF Satisfaction Not Matching Yes No First Sat_Neg SXYZ Satisfaction Not Matching Yes No Repeat Sat_Neg FXFX None Flagged Contact N/A N/A N/A N/A DXDX None Dropped Contact N/A N/A N/A N/A TXTA None Escalation N/A N/A N/A N/A TXTD None Transfer N/A N/A N/A N/A

Each Response Code may be assigned a priority indicating the level of likelihood that error in agent inference of customer perception has occurred. These priorities become part of an algorithm used by the performance management software to present records for evaluation by the Quality Assurance team. Table 7 below sets forth an exemplary list of priorities.

TABLE 7 Response Code Priorities PR CODE SURVEY ALIGNMENT AGENT CUST REPEAT CLUSTER 1 EXYZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No Repeat Sat_Neg 2 EXYF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No First Sat_Neg 3 EMNZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching No No Repeat Sat_Neg 4 EMNF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching No No First Sat_Neg 5 EANZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Sat_Neg 6 EANF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A First Sat_Neg 7 EXNZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes Repeat Sat_Neg 8 EXNF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes First Sat_Neg 9 OXYZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No Repeat Res_Neg 10 OXYF Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching Yes No First Res_Neg 11 OMNZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching No No Repeat Res_Neg 12 OMNF Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching No No First Res_Neg 13 OANZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Res_Neg 14 OANF Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only No N/A First Res_Neg 15 OXNZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes Repeat Res_Neg 16 OXNF Resolution (w/Milestone) Not Matching No Yes First Res_Neg 17 RXYZ Resolution Not Matching Yes No Repeat Res_Neg 18 SXYZ Satisfaction Not Matching Yes No Repeat Sat_Neg 19 RXYF Resolution Not Matching Yes No First Res_Neg 20 SXYF Satisfaction Not Matching Yes No First Sat_Neg 21 RMNZ Resolution Matching No No Repeat Res_Neg 22 SMNZ Satisfaction Matching No No Repeat Sat_Neg 23 RMNF Resolution Matching No No First Res_Neg 24 SMNF Satisfaction Matching No No First Sat_Neg 25 RANZ Resolution Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Res_Neg 26 SANZ Satisfaction Agent-Only No N/A Repeat Sat_Neg 27 RANF Resolution Agent-Only No N/A First Res_Neg 28 SANF Satisfaction Agent-Only No N/A First Sat_Neg 29 EAYZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Sat_Neu 30 EAYF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A First Sat_Neu 31 OAYZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Res_Neu 32 OAYF Resolution (w/Milestone) Agent-Only Yes N/A First Res_Neu 33 RXNZ Resolution Not Matching No Yes Repeat Res_Neu 34 SXNZ Satisfaction Not Matching No Yes Repeat Sat_Neu 35 RXNF Resolution Not Matching No Yes First Res_Neu 36 SXNF Satisfaction Not Matching No Yes First Sat_Neu 37 RAYZ Resolution Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Res_Neu 38 SAYZ Satisfaction Agent-Only Yes N/A Repeat Sat_Neu 39 RAYF Resolution Agent-Only Yes N/A First Res_Neu 40 SAYF Satisfaction Agent-Only Yes N/A First Sat_Neu 41 OMYZ Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes Repeat Res_Pos 42 OMYF Resolution (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes First Res_Pos 43 EMYZ Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes Repeat Sat_Pos 44 EMYF Satisfaction (w/Milestone) Matching Yes Yes First Sat_Pos 45 RMYZ Resolution Matching Yes Yes Repeat Res_Pos 46 RMYF Resolution Matching Yes Yes First Res_Pos 47 SMYZ Satisfaction Matching Yes Yes Repeat Sat_Pos 48 SMYF Satisfaction Matching Yes Yes First Sat_Pos

Response Codes may be used for two primary purposes. The first purpose is to prioritize the various combinations of agent-customer survey responses for review. Those that are incongruent and involve repeat calls are higher priority, while those that are congruent with both parties responding favorably are lower priority. The second purpose is for ease in communication in various screens and reports of the performance management software. The purpose and usage of such response codes are set forth in Table 8 below.

TABLE 8 Response Code Usage PURPOSE USAGE Prioritization Response Codes indicate congruency between agent-customer survey responses, the survey question responded to and the whether or not the call was a repeat for the same concern. Calls that are assigned a higher priority are more likely to be evaluated by the Quality Assurance team. The guidelines for establishing priorities are:    If the agent indicates that a customer was satisfied and that their issue was resolved,    and the customer indicates the opposite, and it is a repeat call, the chances of    identifying an error and creating a rich coaching opportunity are very high    If both the agent and customer respond favorably to the satisfaction and/or resolution    survey questions, chances are high that everything was done correctly. However,    these records are reviewed to ensure that the agent adhered to policy Evaluation Screen Response Codes appear in the top panel of the evaluation screen so that the QA Analyst is aware of the condition of survey responses Task Screen When conducting coaching and counseling sessions with the agent, the Task screen displays the Response Code for the record being reviewed. This allows the agent and the supervisor to better understand the purpose of the coaching or counseling session. Reporting Various reports generated illustrate Response Codes for the primary purpose of identifying trends

As noted above, Response Codes are generated after the agent completes the Agent Survey and after the customer either completes the Customer Survey, or has had the opportunity to complete the Customer Survey but did not. Agent Surveys may be presented to Data Assurance for evaluation in order of priority assigned to each Response Code. A more detailed description in order of priority, and the prime indicators associated with each Response Code is set forth in Table 9 below. It should be noted, however, that “prime indicators” are not inclusive of every potential root cause. Rather, they may be used as a guideline related to the generation of a Response Code.

TABLE 9 Response Codes Priority Detailed Description CODE DESCRIPTION PRIME INDICATORS 1 EXYZ Survey Question: Satisfaction An opportunity exists to coach the agent Milestone: Present with regard to engagement and etiquette Alignment: Not Matching The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: Yes existing policy or process Repeat Status: Repeat Potential concerns with the method of resolution utilized by the agent 2 EXYF Survey Question: Satisfaction An opportunity exists to coach the agent Milestone: Present with regard to engagement and etiquette Alignment: Not Matching The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: Yes existing policy or process Repeat Status: First Potential concerns with the method of resolution utilized by the agent 3 EMNZ Survey Question: Satisfaction The customer was not satisfied due to an Milestone: Present existing policy or process Alignment: Matching The agent is requesting help related to call Agent Response: No handling Repeat Status: Repeat 4 EMNF Survey Question: Satisfaction The customer was not satisfied due to an Milestone: Present existing policy or process Alignment: Matching The agent is requesting help related to call Agent Response: No handling Repeat Status: First 5 EANZ Survey Question: Satisfaction The agent is serving as a reliable proxy for Milestone: Present the customer Alignment: Agent-Only The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: No existing policy or process Repeat Status: Repeat The agent is asking for help related to call handling 6 EANF Survey Question: Satisfaction The agent is serving as a reliable proxy for Milestone: Present the customer Alignment: Agent-Only The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: No existing policy or process Repeat Status: First The agent is asking for help related to call handling 7 EXNZ Survey Question: Satisfaction Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Present perception Alignment: Not Matching The agent is asking for help related to call Agent Response: No handling Repeat Status: Repeat 8 EXNF Survey Question: Satisfaction Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Present perception Alignment: Not Matching The agent is asking for help related to call Agent Response: No handling Repeat Status: First 9 OXYZ Survey Question: Resolution Concern with the method of resolution Milestone: Present utilized by an individual agent Alignment: Not Matching Training concern affecting multiple agents Agent Response: Yes Problem with fulfillment (etc.) which Repeat Status: Repeat occurred outside the control of the support organization 10 OXYF Survey Question: Resolution Concern with the method of resolution Milestone: Present utilized by an individual agent Alignment: Not Matching Training concern affecting multiple agents Agent Response: Yes Problem with fulfillment (etc.) which Repeat Status: First occurred outside the control of the support organization 11 OMNZ Survey Question: Resolution Potential concern with existing policy or Milestone: Present process Alignment: Matching Training concern affecting an individual Agent Response: No agent or group of agents Repeat Status: Repeat 12 OMNF Survey Question: Resolution Potential concern with existing policy or Milestone: Present process Alignment: Matching Training concern affecting an individual Agent Response: No agent or group of agents Repeat Status: First 13 OANZ Survey Question: Resolution Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Present perception Alignment: Agent-Only Potential concern with existing policy or Agent Response: No process Repeat Status: Repeat Training concern affecting an individual agent or group of agents 14 OANF Survey Question: Resolution Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Present perception Alignment: Agent-Only Potential concern with existing policy or Agent Response: No process Repeat Status: First Training concern affecting an individual agent or group of agents 15 OXNZ Survey Question: Resolution Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Present perception Alignment: Not Matching Agent Response: No Repeat Status: Repeat 16 OXNF Survey Question: Resolution Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Present perception Alignment: Not Matching Agent Response: No Repeat Status: First 17 RXYZ Survey Question: Resolution Concern with the method of resolution Milestone: Not Present utilized by an individual agent Alignment: Not Matching Training concern affecting multiple agents Agent Response: Yes Repeat Status: Repeat 18 SXYZ Survey Question: Satisfaction An opportunity exists to coach the agent Milestone: Not Present with regard to engagement and etiquette Alignment: Not Matching The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: Yes existing policy or process Repeat Status: Repeat 19 RXYF Survey Question: Resolution Concern with the method of resolution Milestone: Not Present utilized by an individual agent Alignment: Not Matching Training concern affecting multiple agents Agent Response: Yes Repeat Status: First 20 SXYF Survey Question: Satisfaction An opportunity exists to coach the agent Milestone: Not Present with regard to engagement and etiquette Alignment: Not Matching The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: Yes existing policy or process Repeat Status: First 21 RMNZ Survey Question: Resolution Potential concern with existing policy or Milestone: Not Present process Alignment: Matching Training concern affecting an individual Agent Response: No agent or group of agents Repeat Status: Repeat 22 SMNZ Survey Question: Satisfaction An opportunity exists to coach the agent Milestone: Not Present with regard to engagement and etiquette Alignment: Matching The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: No existing policy or process Repeat Status: Repeat 23 RMNF Survey Question: Resolution Potential concern with existing policy or Milestone: Not Present process Alignment: Matching Training concern affecting an individual Agent Response: No agent or group of agents Repeat Status: First 24 SMNF Survey Question: Satisfaction An opportunity exists to coach the agent Milestone: Not Present with regard to engagement and etiquette Alignment: Matching The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: No existing policy or process Repeat Status: First 25 RANZ Survey Question: Resolution The agent is serving as a reliable proxy for Milestone: Not Present the customer Alignment: Agent-Only The agent is requesting help related to call Agent Response: No handling Repeat Status: Repeat 26 SANZ Survey Question: Satisfaction The agent is serving as a reliable proxy for Milestone: Not Present the customer Alignment: Agent-Only The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: No existing policy or process Repeat Status: Repeat The agent is asking for help related to call handling 27 RANF Survey Question: Resolution The agent is serving as a reliable proxy for Milestone: Not Present the customer Alignment: Agent-Only The agent is requesting help related to call Agent Response: No handling Repeat Status: First 28 SANF Survey Question: Satisfaction The agent is serving as a reliable proxy for Milestone: Not Present the customer Alignment: Agent-Only The customer was not satisfied due to an Agent Response: No existing policy or process Repeat Status: First The agent is asking for help related to call handling 29 EAYZ Survey Question: Satisfaction The customer was satisfied with the service Milestone: Present received Alignment: Agent-Only Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 30 EAYF Survey Question: Satisfaction The customer was satisfied with the service Milestone: Present received Alignment: Agent-Only Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First 31 OAYZ Survey Question: Resolution The customer believes the issue was Milestone: Present resolved correctly Alignment: Agent-Only Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes method and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 32 OAYF Survey Question: Resolution The customer believes the issue was Milestone: Present resolved correctly Alignment: Agent-Only Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes method and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First 33 RXNZ Survey Question: Resolution Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Not Present perception Alignment: Not Matching Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: No method and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 34 SXNZ Survey Question: Satisfaction Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Not Present perception Alignment: Not Matching Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: No and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 35 RXNF Survey Question: Resolution Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Not Present perception Alignment: Not Matching Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: No method and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First 36 SXNF Survey Question: Satisfaction Agent error in inference of customer Milestone: Not Present perception Alignment: Not Matching Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: No and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First 37 RAYZ Survey Question: Resolution The customer believes the issue was Milestone: Not Present resolved correctly Alignment: Agent-Only Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes method and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 38 SAYZ Survey Question: Resolution The customer was satisfied with the service Milestone: Not Present received Alignment: Agent-Only Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 39 RAYF Survey Question: Resolution The customer believes the issue was Milestone: Not Present resolved correctly Alignment: Agent-Only Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes method and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First 40 SAYF Survey Question: Satisfaction The customer was satisfied with the service Milestone: Not Present received Alignment: Agent Only Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First 41 OMYZ Survey Question: Resolution Very strong likelihood that the issue was Milestone: Present resolved Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 42 OMYF Survey Question: Resolution Very strong likelihood that the issue was Milestone: Present resolved Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes and policy/process Repeat Status: First 43 EMYZ Survey Question: Satisfaction Very strong likelihood that the customer Milestone: Present was satisfied Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 44 EMYF Survey Question: Satisfaction Very strong likelihood that the customer Milestone: Present was satisfied Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First 45 RMYZ Survey Question: Resolution Very strong likelihood that the issue was Milestone: Not Present resolved Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes and policy/process Repeat Status: Repeat 46 RMYF Survey Question: Resolution Very strong likelihood that the issue was Milestone: Not Present resolved Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate resolution Agent Response: Yes and policy/process Repeat Status: First 47 SMYZ Survey Question: Satisfaction Very strong likelihood that the customer Milestone: Not Present was satisfied Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: Repeat 48 SMYF Survey Question: Satisfaction Very strong likelihood that the customer Milestone: Not Present was satisfied Alignment: Matching Data Assurance should validate satisfaction Agent Response: Yes and policy/process adherence Repeat Status: First

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a balanced service process 208 utilizing Zacoustic performance management software 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention. An customer contact point and customer calibrator 302 provides that for every call handled, the customer contact point predict how customers are going to respond to existing survey questions. Zacoustic does not replace survey questions currently in use by a client; rather it fills the gap left by 85-95% of unresponsive customers. Utilize the client's existing survey questions and venue, the responses are fed through an API 410 to Zacoustic database 416 (see FIG. 4). The survey is imbedded into the client's CRM, and there is no impact to average handle time (AHT). Moreover, there is no personally-identifiable information (PII) or payment card industry (PCI) data transmitted. Agent-required completion of the predictive survey does not contribute to AHT increase; rather AHT is lowered through exposed best practice.

When actual customer survey responses are received, they are compared to agent predictions for that call. The Match Rate metric is based on accurate agent predictions (e.g., Matched Responses/Total Match Opportunities=Match Rate). As the Match Rate improves, agents become more aware of customer sentiment and are more likely to take steps to deliver improved CX. For example, agents start at about 40%, and improve to about 90% within four weeks. As agents begin to understand that they are not self-evaluating, rather predicting, the accuracy of their predictions improve. As agents demonstrate sustained accurate predictions, Zacoustic trusts their data just as though it came from the customer. Zacoustic algorithm only trusts agent-generated data after sustained accurate predictions (i.e., Match Rate) are demonstrated by the agent. This fills the survey gap generating statistically sound 100% customer feedback using the agent as a reliable customer proxy.

It should be noted at this juncture that this calibration process may be used not only with the human agents 228 and human supervisors 232, but also with BOTs, Chat BOTs, etc. 210 coupled to the BSP 208.

Attributes of every agent prediction—call disposition and AHT may be auto-populated—enabling complex CX big data. Other factors such as customer experience score, issue resolution score, repeat call status, net promoter scores, etc. may also be used. With prior art approaches, QA randomly selects calls, the average FCR is 70%, and resolved calls are often evaluated. With the Zacoustic approach described herein, good/bad calls are separated, calls which have not been resolved are automatically sent to QA, resulting in a great improvement to CX. It removes denial from agent-thinking with regard to candid feedback; when agents predict unfavorable responses, they are open to coaching. As shown in Table 10 below, the addition of agent-calibrated CX and FCR data alongside AHT for every call, by agent and call driver is an industry first and exposes biggest pain points and best practices.

TABLE 10 Zacoustic Reporting Call Driver: Registration Calls AHT CX FCR Total Queue Performance 9,952 11:12 44% 28% Agent: Janet Lane 327  6:44 88% 74%

Referring again to FIG. 4, there is shown a flowchart for maximizing first contact resolution according to one embodiment of the present invention. The top portion illustrates a client's CRM system running Zendesk 402 with a form 404, which may include for example ticket ID, agent ID, state, call type, and times. It may also include an agent webform 406 and an agent predictive survey 408 (an enlarged sample which may be seen in FIG. 14). It may also be running SurveyPal (a data capture software which may be integrated with CECs such as Salesforce, Zendesk, or ServiceNow as shown in FIG. 1) 412 with a form 414, which may include for example a SurveyPal customer survey and a ticket ID. Each of the aforementioned elements may be running on a computer system 418. The bottom portion illustrates Zacoustic components, including an API 410 connected to receive inputs from the forms 404, 408, and 414, and collect them for processing and storage by Zacoustic database 416. A Zacoustic client 420 is also coupled to run on the client's computer system 418.

Referring now to FIGS. 5A and 5B, there is shown a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for responding to an email contact. A customer email may be received at step 502. At step 504, a determination is made whether the issue noted in the email has been resolved. If not, a response is sent at step 506. If the issue was resolved, it is determined as solved at step 512, and a customer survey is sent at step 514. At step 508, it is determined whether a response has been received. If not, it is presumed solved after 7 days at step 510. If so, it is determined as solved at step 512, and a customer survey is sent at step 514. The agent in either case predicts the outcomes at step 516 with the predictive survey 408 (FIG. 4 and FIG. 14).

The process continues with step 518 of FIG. 5B to determine whether the customer has responded to the survey. If not, the process ends at step 520. If the customer has responded, Zacoustic compares the predictive survey with the customer response at step 522. At step 524, a determination is made whether the responses match. If not, calibration coaching is automatically implemented at step 526. If they do match, the process ends at step 528.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown for responding to a phone call. An outbound call is made at step 602, and the issue is determined as resolved at step 604 by Zendesk, for example. A customer survey is sent at step 606 at essentially the same time that the agent prediction is made at step 608. A determination is made at step 610 whether the customer responds. If not, the process ends at step 612. If so, Zacoustic compares the responses at 614, and a determination is made whether the responses match at step 616. If not, calibration coaching is automatically implemented at step 618. If they do match, the process ends at step 620.

Referring now to FIGS. 7A and 7B, a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for responding to a chat contact is shown. The customer may request a chat at step 702. A chat session ensues at step 704, and the chat session is ended by the customer at step 706. The issue is determined as resolved at step 708 by Zendesk, for example. A customer survey is sent at step 710 at essentially the same time that the agent prediction is made at step 712. As continued with FIG. 7B, a determination is made at step 714 whether the customer responds. If not, the process ends at step 716. If so, Zacoustic compares the responses at 718, and a determination is made whether the responses match at step 720. If not, calibration coaching is automatically implemented at step 722. If they do match, the process ends at step 724.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for use with calibrated agent predictions is shown. Calibrated agent predictions are input at step 802 into the Zacoustic database 804. Zacoustic then identifies and separates unsuccessful interactions at step 806 from successful interactions at step 810. Zacoustic then categorizes the unsuccessful interactions at step 808 utilizing cause drivers such as issue type, resolution, satisfaction, repeat call, and AHT, among others. Zacoustic also identifies the successful transactions for purposes of best practice/recognition. Based on the factors identified in step 808, those factors are input to a portion of the Zacoustic database 804 at step 814 into a Zacoustic QA tool. This may then, in turn, lead to changes in the current QA form at step 816 and high-impact agent coaching sessions at step 818.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention for use with calibrated agent predictions is shown. Calibrated agent predictions are input at step 902 into the Zacoustic database 904. Zacoustic then identifies and separates unsuccessful interactions at step 906 from successful interactions at step 908. Zacoustic then categorizes the unsuccessful interactions at step 910 utilizing cause drivers such as issue type, highest volume, lowest resolution, lowest satisfaction, and highest AHT, among others. Zacoustic also identifies the successful transactions for purposes of product improvements. Based on the factors identified in step 910, those factors are compared with high performance agents at step 914. If not, a determination that there may be a process problem is made at step 916. If so, those factors may be used in best practice sharing, but also training and knowledge base use.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a balanced service process according to another embodiment of the present invention including machine learning is shown. Cause drivers 1002 such as those to the left of the Zacoustic database 1004 may be input into the database 1004 to produce an agent predictive survey 1006. If an actual customer 1008 responds to surveys sent to her/him, Zacoustic may compare the two, ascertain difference/similarities, and feedback such machine learning to the Zacoustic database.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a calibration dashboard for use with balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Zacoustic displays agents that are not calibrated, those that it believes are, and supervisors must validate those that are fully calibrated. Zacoustic does not trust agent-generated data until both the machine and human validate calibration.

Referring now to FIG. 12, another calibration dashboard for use with the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. This view is for Agent Anna Goldman and can be used for individual coaching. Her supervisors can double click on each individual agent to review all agent and customer calibration opportunities

Referring now to FIG. 13, an executive dashboard for use with the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, illustrating call driver vs. AHT, CX and Resolution, which allows users to quickly find the greatest pain points (all stemming from agent calibrated data).

Referring now to FIG. 14, another executive dashboard for use with the balanced service process according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. By double clicking into the data exposes those agent(s) that define best practice within the selected call driver. In this view, Agent “Wendy Barnes'” can be defined as best practice and knowledge share to other agents within the queue/KB.

While various exemplary embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should instead be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for customer contact management, comprising: a customer contact environment comprising a database and a plurality of agents, wherein said contact environment is coupled to receive customer contacts from a network and present each of the customer contacts to one or more of said plurality of agents; a balanced service process, comprising: an agent survey for determining and managing real-time, intraday, and historical resolver disposition of contact (RDP) and agents' belief about customers' view on contact resolution and customer satisfaction; a customer survey for determining and managing real-time, intraday, and historical customer input/view on disposition of contact (CDP); wherein said process for aligning the agent and the customer on each contact comprises one or more of the following: a data generator for determining first contact resolution (FCR) rates and customer satisfaction (CSAT) from the results of said agent survey and said customer survey, wherein said results are stored in said database; a processor within said database for dynamically reporting issues driving contact volume; a processor within said database for determining every contact that was not resolved; a processor within said database for assigning a plurality of response codes each of which is indicative of an outcome of said agent survey and said customer survey for each of the contacts; and a closed loop channel within said database to define, report and correct actions and trending issues that impede FCR and CSAT.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said issues driving contact volume comprise said real-time, intraday, and historical RDP, CDP, FCR and CSAT, and exception rates.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said trending issues that impede FCR and CSAT are based on said dynamically reported issues driving contact volume.
 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said agent is prompted with said agent survey upon completion of each said contact.
 5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said agent is prompted during said agent survey to answer whether the customer believes the issue causing each said contact was resolved or not.
 6. The system according to claim 4, wherein said agent is prompted during said agent survey to answer whether the customer for each said contact was satisfied or not.
 7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said customer is prompted with said customer survey upon completion of each said contact.
 8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said customer is prompted during said customer survey to answer whether the issue causing each said contact was resolved or not.
 9. The system according to claim 7, wherein said customer is prompted during said customer survey to answer whether the customer for each said contact was satisfied or not.
 10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said response codes are generated after said agent completes said agent survey and after said customer either completes said customer survey, or has had the opportunity to complete said customer survey but did not.
 11. The system according to claim 1, wherein said response codes are prioritized.
 12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said response codes are indicative of one or more of congruency between agent-customer survey responses, the survey question responded to and, whether or not the call was a repeat for the same concern.
 13. The system according to claim 1, wherein said contact environment further comprises a chat bot.
 14. The system according to claim 13, wherein said chat bot is coupled to said database to store data input through the chat bot by the customer and data output by the chat bot to the customer.
 15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said balanced service process further comprises a bot coupled to said database.
 16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said bot is adapted to be calibrated by the data generated in said balanced service process.
 17. The system according to claim 16, wherein each said agent may be calibrated by the data generated in said balanced service process.
 18. The system according to claim 16, wherein said calibrated bot may prompt each said agent.
 19. The system according to claim 16, wherein said calibrated bot is adapted for machine learning based on the data generated in said balance service process and stored in said database.
 20. The system according to claim 16, wherein said calibrated bot may generate a unique customer survey for each unique customer contact. 